Thales to supply sonar suite for Dutch Orka-class submarines

Defense company Thales has signed an agreement with French shipbuilder Naval Group to provide its sonar suite for the Orka-class submarines to be deployed by the Royal Netherlands Navy under the RNSC (Replacement Netherlands Submarine Capability) program.

The sonar suite features high-performance acoustic sensors, including bow, flank, and obstacle-avoidance sonars, an intercept array; a passive towed-array sonar; an underwater voice communication system; an echo sounder; and signal processing racks.

The sonar suite will provide a comprehensive picture of the underwater acoustic environment to support the future submarines’ capacity to thwart increasingly silent threats.

According to Thales, the system makes it possible to detect, locate, and classify all types of threats at short, medium, and long ranges across a wide range of frequencies.

“The highly capable Thales sonar suite was a key component of Naval Group’s bid for this programme, and will make a significant contribution to the acoustic superiority of the Orka-class submarines. We know we can count on Thales to meet the demanding requirements of the COMMIT and to work hand in hand with Dutch industry on the RNSC programme,” Sylvain Perrier, RNSC Programme Director for Naval Group, said.

To remind, last year, Naval Group signed a delivery agreement with the Netherlands Ministry of Defense for the four new Orka-class submarines. The program encompasses the replacement of the Walrus-class submarines currently operated by the Royal Netherlands Navy.

“We are proud that Thales’s advanced sonar suite has been selected to equip the Royal Netherlands Navy’s Orka-class submarines. This partnership will enhance the technological superiority of the Dutch armed forces, and reflects our ongoing commitment to providing innovative, dependable solutions in support of the defence capabilities of allied nations,” added Sébastien Guérémy, Vice President, Underwater Systems, Thales.

This program is an opportunity for Thales to align with the Dutch government’s policy of support and empowerment of strategic national industries, the company further highlighted.

It will consolidate the engagement with the naval defense ecosystem in the Netherlands, within the framework of the RNSC program, as illustrated by a recent contract with the Dutch company Optics11, to use its OptiArray technology in the passive towed-array sonar.